5-17-77 Vegetarian Pizza

Transcript (Download)

You You You You You Hey, that's a basic kind of tomato sauce.

Yes tomato sauce with Indian spices Indian spices, huh? And a bit of yogurt in it That's good Kind of taste Italian but a little different Well, these are only half the spices because other half is sprinkle on the oh, we're gonna put more on okay and Then the final seasoning on top of the pizza when it is done, how do you put the sweet potatoes on just like this? Just break them up and very simple Just break them up and spread all over the place Now those are partly cooked already yes The thing is this you must be symmetrical in putting so that you don't put too much in one spot And too little or nothing at all at some place you want to keep this all kind of even then yes It'll cut away at me.

Would you like to put some well? I'll you do one half and I'll Or we're gonna make half sweet potatoes and half peas.

No, we're gonna mix them.

I'm going to mix them I Look who were Sausage and pepperoni types.

Yeah now they've got on hooked We're all the vegetarian pizzas I gotta tell you I think this is gonna taste pretty good Well, you you'll see it yourself No, sweet potatoes a sweet potatoes are pretty good now we put the peas on sure Okay, Frank make any sense, but yeah, sorry I'll do a little sprinkle in there How am I doing very nice You want to kind of spread this around a little right yes evenly Sometimes some people come to me that no they put all the vegetables a little okay Okay, we'll just keep Yeah, where you don't have put it over there Spinach maybe some here and please here.

Oh, yeah, I missed a couple of sections Okay Okay, well now we are all set all right now, what are you looking the finishing touches to this, okay? Put some salt And a blend of 23 spices 23 Colonel Sanders only has 19 Well, he didn't happen to visit India he wasn't at India I see And all three different spices huh yes learn to smell it.

Yeah, it smells good Hmm that's good.

It's got be some pizza and here we go and Sprinkle some cheese on it Okay Now what kind of cheese is this this is a blend of three cheeses Three Indian cheeses yes three Indian cheeses which we make ourselves Good cheese Okay You I'm not going to eat it.

I'm not going to eat it.

Half and half banana, see if any.

I don't know, it's okay.

Well, our pizza and a few other things are complete now.

I have here also a special Indian cocktail which is called a...

Lalpuri, which translated means red fairy.

It's got gin, aniseed, cranberry juice, and some cloves in it.

And it's potent.

What are some of the other things we have here? Well, here you have tongue kebab.

It's the whole shank of lamb.

And it is marinated in yogurt and Himalayan black salt and spices.

And it is grilled three times.

Till it is done to perfection.

And here you have tikka kebab.

Tell you what, cut.

Well, our pizza is complete and we've got a few other specialties of the house here.

So, what are those? Rice pulao with a number of vegetables.

And this is another variety of rice pulao.

There are two types of kebabs.

We have the tongue kebab and the tikka kebab.

These are both lamb kebabs.

And here is our special Kashmiri naan.

We have onion seeds on it.

Naan is bread? Naan is bread, yes.

And I have something here called a Lalpuri, which translated means red fairy.

You can't see it.

And then if I have to, then I'll do another close as the pizza is almost gone.

I'll put the red fairy in it.

Even one, that's good.

It's a whole different texture.

If you had half and half, you could distinctly taste it.

You could see the difference, yeah.

I'll try a little of this.

Maybe a lot of us can have ginger.

And two tikka kebab.

The top is a little bit, because it has a few heavy couple of feet.

It's so delicious.

That's it? Let them eat now, we don't want to eat.

This is one of our later additions, you know.

Was it right? Okay.

The milk comes from my backyard.

Oh really? This is mango, this is mint chutney.

That's the trouble with doing this like this.

Frank, you're still rolling? Okay.

Well, I got to tell you this.

Pizza with peas and sweet potatoes and spinach is unlike any pizza I've ever had.

This is Bob Wallace at the Family Corner India Restaurant on West of Vaughan.

Eating vegetarian pizza for Channel 2 News.

Mmm, that's good.

Like they say in a commercial, try it, you'll like it.

What else? I'll lay that over in the studio, yeah.

But the spices are all different.

I'll tell you this.

Virtually cholesterol free.

Is it right? Very low, very very low in calories.

You can see it, you know.

Oh yeah, in there.

It's all vegetables and cheese.

Identifier

F.2012-03-1798

Date Of Production

May 17 1977

Abstract

Newsreel footage of WBBM-TV Channel 2 reporter Bob Wallace's visit to the Family Corner Restaurant at 2901 W. Devon Ave., Chicago, IL.

Description

The film opens on a hanging storefront sign that advertises the homely yet enigmatically-named "Family Corner Restaurant." Brief shots taken of the front window's hanging literature reveal that the establishment specializes in Kashmiri Indian cuisine, and a taped-up article featured in the North Town News exclaims that the restaurant has invented vegetarian pizza.

The scene shifts inside to a table of assorted vegetables where owner Surendra M. Rajmaira patiently shows a bemused Bob Wallace of WBBM-TV Channel 2 how to prepare the Family Corner's vegetarian pizza, complete with sweet potatoes, peas, spinach, 23 spices and three Indian cheeses. The film concludes as Wallace, Rajmaira and two other guests sit down for dinner and Rajmaira identifies some of the other dishes at the table, including rice pilau, taang kabob, tikka kabob, and Kashmiri naan. Wallace signs off, "This is Bob Wallace at the Family Corner India Restaurant on West Devon eating vegetarian pizza for Channel 2 news."

On a strip that would later be nicknamed "Little India," Rajmaira opened the Family Corner Restaurant's doors in 1975, just three years after Jagdish Khatwani opened India Sari Palace, credited as the first South Asian business on Devon Avenue. The Family Corner Restaurant advertised itself as the home of the "world's only vegetarian pizza with Himalayan spices with choice of 13 vegetables." Vegetable varieties included eggplant, okra, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and bamboo shoots. Starting with a choice of one vegetable topping, a medium pizza was $3.60 and a large was $4.90.

Run Time

0:12:32

Format

16mm

Extent

448 feet

Color

Color

Sound

Optical

Reel/Tape Number

1/1

Has Been Digitized?

Yes

Language Of Materials

English

Element

Color Reversal Intermediate

Genre

Journalism

Form

Outtakes

Subject

Cooking
Food
Food industry
Vegetables
Processes and techniques
Business

Related Collections

SUBSERIES IV: Labor & Industry

Related Places

North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago

Distributor

WBBM-TV

Main Credits

Koza, Frank (is filmmaker)

Participants And Performers

Wallace, Bob (is reporter)

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